What his belly can

VENICE There are few stretches of water in the world as fussed over as the canals and lagoons of Venice. The latest manifestation of concern is the introduction of a "deodorizing" vessel that is intended to collect offending flotsam on or near the water's surface. Visitors to the Queen of the Adriatic have long complained of the bad smells emanating from the turgid canals (Venice has almost no tides).

The new boat, baptized the Pelican, was first used in the Straits of Messina between Italy and Sicily to clean up oil spills. It is 35 feet long and has a "mouth" opening from the stem to almost half its total length. Oil wastes are ingested with water and sink to a special vat, while nets take up solid debris of various kinds. Meanwhile, a compressed-air cannon shoots oxygen down 15 feet below the surface to aerate the water and restore some of its freshness.

COPYRIGHT 1986 National Review, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning